Saying being overstressed is a condition far fetched in our age is like denying the reality of being stifled in the midst of poor ventilation. We live in the society where virtually everything done is accompanied with stress.
Everything we do makes us stand the risk of being encumbered with stress. On a daily basis, we go about our businesses hurrying from one job interview to another, hyper-caffenated and sugar-saturated beverages with junk and highly processed foods taken on the run, being stuck in heavy traffic, observing less sleep, overworking ourselves, carrying files from one departmental office to the other with a sense of job insecurity, stepping up productivity with a loss of customers as compensation, unfulfilled marriages and losing children to the dangerous world in a bid to make both ends meet. All these that life carries with its vicissitudes should therefore make us seek counsels on how to manage stress.
The next question now borders on how to successfully jump over these hurdles unscathed. From interpersonal relationships, the disposition of people towards subject, stress when it comes to managing is so different. Some are so learned that when faced with stressors that could have subjected them to the condition, they are still able to manage it while others may utterly find the same condition unsurmountable.
11 WAYS OF MANAGING STRESS
Break down your work
Taking a right approach in managing stress demands that one learns how to break down ones work into units. When a task is well broken down, evaluation becomes pretty easy.
Set priority
In the making of a to-do list, it is essential that work is arranged for execution based on the order of importance.
Be flexible
Being flexible affords one the opportunity of deciding what to do per time without following any boring pattern with rigidity.
Seek alliance
At times, seeking the assistance of people in doing your job does not only help to save time but also helps in accomplishing a task with ease. So, if seeking help will do, why not look for one. If running the grocery and picking up your kids from school will put you under much stress, you may decide to take a task and leave the other to another trusted person(s) to accomplish.
Exercise
Exercise helps to stimulate the brain chemicals for the growth of nerve cells. It also helps in the release of serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin and ANP for an emotional balance.
Eliminate or substitute
This also requires flexibilities in our approach. There could be an elimination of tasks that are not really worth it while substitution for some could be done when necessary.
Keep a homely environment for yourself
Try as much as possible to make your environment serene. Psychology teaches us that the environment we keep has a long way to go in determining our emotional state.
Stay away from unnecessary worries
Do not allow everything that comes tense you. Take a hold of yourself when handling serious or petty issues as the case may be.
Say ‘NO’ to stimulants
The intake of hard drugs, alcohol or caffeine to tackle stress-induced tasks may at first deceptively seem helpful but can after some time worsen the state. So, taking hard drugs will only make things hard.
Take appropriate sleep
Taking appropriate sleep makes us feel refreshed.
Learn how to turn down offers.
Keeping mute when and where one is supposed to talk can kill at times. An old primary school song with a nugget of wisdom says, “Wherever you go, wherever you be, do not say yes when you mean to say no.” Meaning, carefully screen a proposal before you communicate your acceptance and if you are to turn down such, do it with a sense of politeness and give reasons as the case may be.
Sources
Psych central
Medical news today
He is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Yomi Adeyemo is an educationist whose passion lies in enlightening the society- making the unknown known. His hobbies are reading, writing and being around people.
